First of all:
The videos below are “Trocitos” from our YouTube channel. Un trocito is “a little bit” of something — usually something to eat.
If you want to push yourself a bit, try reading the blog and viewing the videos in the Spanish version first. You can always come back here if you want to check a particular word or phrase. Just click on “English” or “Español” in the menu above.
The first video below is part of a complete lesson in our ebook “Spanish for Perfectionists No. 2”. See below for more information about our ebooks and a free sample lesson. You’ll also find a bonus video featuring estirar la pata, por los pelos, and more.
Hi. I’m Elizabeth, from Real Spanish, and a keen learner of Spanish, like you.
I’ve always been fascinated by how languages use the human body to express everything from mood and attitude to honesty and betrayal. Think of the expression “to put your foot down” in English.
Spanish is full of such expressions. The first time I heard someone talk about a politician who’d been pillado con el culo al aire — literally “with their backside/arse/ass in the air” — I guessed from the context that it was something like “caught with their pants/trousers down” (caught out in an embarrassing or scandalous situation). I loved the image. That’s the thing about body part idioms in Spanish: they’re vivid, memorable, and often very funny. Once you know them, you start hearing them everywhere. Con el culo al aire is often used in conversations about corrupt politicians or badly-behaved celebrities. Every country has them!
In this video, our virtual teacher Celia introduces several expressions with parts of the body. Some are perfectly polite in any situation, while others are a bit vulgar. But they’re all real Spanish, used by native speakers every day, so it’s definitely worth knowing what they mean, even if you choose not to use them yourself!
Why not start your own collection of Spanish expressions? I keep a running list, and I add to it whenever I hear something new: in podcasts, films, or just chatting with native speakers. The key is to note them in context, so you remember how they’re actually used. WordReference.com is brilliant for this: it gives you real examples, not just definitions.
All the best for your adventures in Spanish,
Elizabeth from Real Spanish
The video:
In this video you’ll hear these Spanish idioms related to parts of the body:
dar la cara
levantarse con el pie izquierdo
dormir a pierna suelta
estar hasta las narices / la coronilla / el moño / los cojones
tener la lengua muy larga
dejar (or pillar) a alguien con el culo en el aire
lamerle el culo a alguien
English transcript
Hello! At Real Spanish we’re creating a series of mini-lessons on expressions that refer to parts of the human body.
Do you always dar la cara — in other words, do you face up to the consequences of your own actions? In Spanish there are lots of colloquial expressions related to body parts. For example, levantarse con el pie izquierdo (literally, “to get up on the left foot”) means to be in a bad mood or to have a bad day.
But we can also be in a great mood when we sleep a pierna suelta — in other words, when we’ve slept soundly all night and woken up feeling properly rested.
Antonio: What’s the matter with you? Did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?
Celia: Don’t ask. I don’t feel like talking.
Antonio: I see… Well, I slept like a log! I haven’t slept that well in ages!
There are lots of expressions to describe someone who is angry or fed up. For example, estar hasta las narices (to be fed up to the back teeth), hasta la coronilla (up to the crown of your head), hasta el moño (up to your bun), hasta los cojones… but watch out with that last one — it’s pretty vulgar.
Celia: I’m completely fed up with having to pick your clothes up off the floor! I can’t take it any more!
Antonio: Come on, don’t be like that. I’ll pick them up…
Another expression is tener la lengua muy larga (to have a very long tongue), which means to say things that should be kept quiet — in other words, to not be a discreet person.
Antonio: Your sister has a big mouth.
Celia: Why do you say that?
Antonio: She told your parents we’re thinking of getting married. You shouldn’t have told her — now the whole family will know.
As you can imagine, some body part expressions are quite vulgar. For example, these two are very commonly heard:
dejar a alguien con el culo en el aire — to leave someone exposed, in an embarrassing situation
lamerle el culo a alguien — to brown-nose someone to suck up to someone
Well, I hope you enjoyed this video. Coming up next: expressions with mano. See you soon!
Bonus video: “Estirar la pata” and other Spanish expressions with parts of the human body
You can find these body-related expressions in the promo video below:
estirar la pata (pata is an informal word for the leg of an animal or a piece of furniture)
por los pelos
manos en la masa
no me sale de las narices
English transcript
Hello! Do you know what the expression estirar la pata means? I think with this image you can guess.
It's one of the expressions we explain in our mini-lesson about expressions that use the word pata or pierna.
Do you know what con el culo al aire means? It’s a bit vulgar, but it’s used a lot, especially when talking about a politician who has been caught red-handed.
Have you heard the expression por los pelos? Can you guess the meaning from the image?
We recently uploaded this mini-lesson. This woman refuses to do anything, very adamantly. [no hay audio— no me sale de las narices].
We are now working on a mini-lesson on the various expressions with ojo or ojos.
The expressions we explain in these mini-lessons are very useful — if you can use them, you’ll sound much more natural in Spanish.
How did you like these videos?
If you enjoyed this Trocito, I think you’ll like this one too, about ¡Qué va! and other expressions for disagreeing or rejecting a proposal.
If you like learning expressions like these, check out our YouTube playlists.
You might also be interested in our ebook “Spanish for Perfectionists”. You can get a sample lesson and a free Guide for users full of practical tips for language learners.
We have loads of other free resources. Check them out!
Ready for something more demanding? Take a look at our online Spanish courses.
Real Spanish: online Spanish video lessons for intermediate and advanced learners who love the language and want to use it with confidence.
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